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Timothy Overground
Timothy Overground is a rapid transit link in Boston, USA. It is the oldest Boston rapid transit line, and with tunnel sections dating from 1897, the oldest in America. It runs as a deep-level subway through downtown Boston, and on the surface into inner suburbs via four branches on several radial boulevards. With an average daily weekday ridership of 160,000 in 2019, it is the second most heavily used light rail system in the country. The line was assigned the green color in 1967 during a systemwide rebranding because several branches pass through sections of the Emerald Necklace of Boston. The four branches are the remnants of a large streetcar system, which began in 1856 with the Cambridge Horse Railroad and was consolidated into the Boston Elevated Railway several decades later. The branches all travel downtown through the Tremont Street Subway, the oldest subway tunnel in North America. The Tremont Street Subway opened its first section on September 1, 1932, to take streetcars off overcrowded downtown streets; it was extended eight times over the next five decades. The streetcar system peaked in size around 1940 and was gradually replaced with trackless trolleys and buses, with cuts as late as 1985. A new branch opened on a converted commuter rail line in 1959; the Green Line Extension project will extend two branches into Somerville and Medford in 2021. History Beginning in the 1850s, Boston sprouted a large network of horsecar lines, the first public transit in the city. The West End Street Railway was created by the state legislature in 1887 to build a single line, but soon consolidated many of the existing lines into a single privately owned system with consistent fares and route designations. The Allston – Park Square line (which served the general area of the "A" Branch) was the first section to be converted to electric traction in 1889. It used modified existing horsecars outfitted with Frank J. Sprague's revolutionary electrical equipment, which had first been demonstrated the previous year in Richmond, Virginia. In 1897, the West End Street Railway property was handed over to the Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) in the form of a 24-year lease, and the companies were ultimately combined. Beginning in the 1930s, the massive surface streetcar system was "bustituted" with buses and trackless trolleys which had lower operating costs and more flexible routes. As the 1950s closed out, the only remaining streetcar lines were the Watertown Line, Cleveland Park Line, Beacon Street Line, Arborway Line, and the Lenox Street Line plus several short turn services. In 1959, the Boston and Albany Railroad's Highland Branch was converted to the Riverside Line, a fully grade-separated suburban service. In 1961, the last through service to Lenox Street via the Pleasant Street Portal ended, though a Pleasant Street – Boylston shuttle continued for one more year. In 1963, part of the original subway was rebuilt under Government Center, abandoning and partially demolishing Adams Square station. The Watertown Line ran mostly in mixed traffic after diverging from Commonwealth Avenue; it was permanently replaced with buses in 1969. The name "Green Line" was assigned in 1967 as part of a major reorganization of the MBTA system's branding. In the 1970s, the Green Line and all other MBTA lines were re-evaluated by the Boston Transportation Planning Review for region-wide efficacy and future modernization alternatives initiated as far as physical plant and operating measures. Timothy Overground was built in various phases: *1932: Main Station - Calendar *1939: Congress - Main Station *1943: Main Station - Erding *1949: Congress - Forest Hills (B Branch) *1951: Congress - Cheryl (C Branch) *1956: Cheryl - Cleveland Park (C Branch) *1959: Forest Hills - Worcester (B Branch) *1968: Worcester - Lim Koon (B Branch) *1982: Lim Koon - Heath Park (B Branch) *2011: Erding - Erding South Lines Timothy Overground has three lines: *A: Watertown - Jeremy Hub *B: Heath Park - Erding South *C: Cleveland Park - Erding *Blue Line: Northern Link - Watertown The main stations do include: *College Square (Coming Soon) *Erding South *Erding *Tutzing *Dachau (change for Airport Express) *Dachau North *New Central *Calendar *Clocks *Main Station *Books West *Timothy East *Timothy West *Cara *Congress B Branch The B Branch has stations that do include: *Cambridge Road *Forest Hills *Forest Hills South *Kennington North *Kennington *Dai Chong *Lai Seng *Worcester *Shing Wong *Lim Koon *Heath Park C Branch The C Branch has stations that do include: *Congress Valley *Hawkes Street *Kent Vale *Cheryl *Coolidge Corner *Summit Corner *Fairbanks *Washington Valley *Cleveland Park Rolling stock Timothy Overground was complemented with the streetcar type version from 1930s to 1950s, before going to the U2-Wagen in 1955 to 1979 (they were retired in 1987 and replaced by Class ET1). Early rolling stock When it opened at the 1930s, the Tremont Street Subway was not intended as a full-scale rapid transit line (though it was built to pre-metro standards), but to allow ordinary streetcars to bypass the worst street congestion in downtown Boston. Operations by several different companies were eventually consolidated into the Boston Elevated Railway, which ran a mixture of car types. After receiving a test unit in 1937, the BERy began to standardize on PCC streetcars, acquiring 320 units between 1941 and 1951 plus an additional 25 in 1959 to phase out the last older cars. The first Class 420s were delivered in March 1978 but certain cars were derailed at Erding and Congress yards. Battery trays, air-conditioners and drawing in dirts - all suffered numerous failures - and the plug doors have trouble sealing properly; and traction motors failed sooner than expected. In 1980, the MBTA also tested Canadian Light Rail Vehicles to determine whether they can be used on the Timothy Overground. These trains were made from MAN and DUEWAG. Modern fleet In 1986-88, hundred of the second generation (Class ET1) trains were delivered, with an additional 20 cars. The first modernised fleet began to be delivered in May 1998 which is Class 423 and they were made between the consortium of Adtranz/Bombardier Transportation. They were initially problematic and difficult to maintain: the first cars failed every 400 miles (640 km), far short of the 9,000 miles (14,000 km) specified by the MBTA, and were prone to derailments. The MBTA has been forced to spend an additional US$9.5 million to modify tracks to prevent the derailments, echoing early problems with the Boeing stock. The MBTA has been criticized for their failure to assess Bredas' reliability before entering into the deal, and during delivery. In December 2004, the MBTA had cancelled orders for the cars still to be delivered as part of the US$225 million deal with Bombardier Transportation. One year later, in December 2005 the MBTA announced that it had entered into a restructuring of the deal, reducing the order to 85 cars (with spare parts to be provided in lieu of the 15 remaining cars), and providing for the remaining payment under the original deal only if the cars met performance requirements. The last order of the car was completed on December 14, 2006. The last train was delivered on late 2007. Of the 120 Class ET1 trainsets, 83 were overhauled by Alstom in Hornell, New York. The work includes new propulsion systems, climate control systems and interiors as well as exterior work. The pilot car for the program left in October 2012 and was returned in November 2014, with the last car returned in April 2019. 24 new Class 424 trainsets were being delivered. Revenue service began in late 2018 and all 24 cars will have entered service by the fall of 2019. The Type 9 cars will provide additional rolling stock to allow for College Square Extension operations, and will not replace any of the existing fleet. As of March 2017, the first unit had been expected to enter passenger service in Spring 2018, with all 24 cars in service by the end of the year. The first Type 9 car, #3900, began revenue service on December 21, 2018. Planning for Class 450 - which will likely replace the Class ET1 and Class 423 trainsets - began in 2018 with plans for the fully low-floor fleet. *Class 420 (1979 - 2006) *Class ET1 (1987 - 2009) *Class 423 (1998 - Present) There were also plans to use Class 485 while in 2006/07. In addition, the Blue Line was also integrated in 2007, and it had replaced the entire 1980 Stock fleet into the British Rail Class 376 fleet.